But the fact remains that most Arab rulers would still prefer not to see a new war at all.
In the past, Arab rulers feared Iran as an exporter of revolutionary thought: now, at least in public, the emphasis is on tolerance, co-existence and stability.
Moreover, whatever their own personal feelings, Arab rulers are acutely aware that their citizens are prone to be disturbed by the sufferings of their fellow-Arabs, whether from sanctions in Iraq or blockade in Gaza.
So far Saudi Arabia's rulers have escaped the Arab spring largely unscathed.
Thanks to their state-sponsored cradle-to-grave welfare systems, the UAE and other Gulf Arab monarchies have largely avoided the Arab Spring unrest which has unseated long-serving rulers elsewhere in the past two years.
Even after the Arab conquest, Persian remained the language of local rulers, as Iranian administrators, mullahs and traders settled in the cities of Transoxania (which covered much of today's Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Tajikistan), and is the basis of the language spoken by the Tajiks today.
Time and again U.S. diplomatic cables sent from Arab capitals noted a growing tide of popular resentment toward their rulers.
He also knows the Persian Gulf states well, having lived in Bahrain as President of Gulf Air, a company that was partially funded by the rulers of Abu Dhabi, a city in the United Arab Emirates.
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An injection of Kuwaiti and Saudi capital has so far matched the flight of Syrian capital, but bankers fear that angry rulers in Damascus may block Lebanon's trade routes to the Arab world.
The United Arab Emirates has tightened its law on internet use, making it a criminal offence to mock its rulers or organise unauthorised demonstrations.
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